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Palace has ‘Happy Holidays’Luverne’s Palace Theatre had a very good Christmas.Over the holiday weekends the Palace Theatre hosted several elementary school classes from the area as well as area patrons to show almost 1800 people the movie "Polar Express."The following weekend 440 area residents came out to see "National Treasure" starring Nicolas Cage."National Treasure" was number one at the box office for three consecutive weeks prior to showing at the Palace.Because of the recent increase in attendance, more movies are going to be shown at the Palace in the near future.Instead of showing movies only the first weekend of the month, the theatre group is trying to book "Meet the Fockers" for the weekend of Jan. 14-16 and "Oceans 12" for January 21-23."Oceans 12" has been booked, but "Meet the Fockers" has been so popular that the other theatres are trying to hold on to their copies as long as they can. Bringing the movie to the Palace is still up in the air.The next few months will also be busy for the Palace.On Feb. 4-6, the Catholic Youth Group will sponsor "The Incredibles" as a fund-raiser, and on April 2 the Talismen will hold a teaser concert to let you know about the six concerts the 60’s group will be giving at the Palace this summer.Green Earth Players have also scheduled their performance of "Arsenic and Old Lace" in April.A concert by the South Dakota Symphony had been scheduled for April in the Palace, but that performance has been moved to the Luverne High School Little Theater because of better access to risers, the band shell and other items.The appearance by the Symphony is being organized as a joint fund-raiser for both the Blue Mound Area Theatre, operators of the Palace, and the Luverne Music Boosters.KPCO acquires broadcast rights to Minnesota high school tournamentsSioux Falls based Central Plains Media, Channel 9 on Mediacom, recently announced they have acquired exclusive distribution rights for the Minnesota high school hockey and basketball tournaments in the Sioux Falls, Fargo and Rapid City areas.The agreement covers a four-year period.According to Chuck Poppen, Central Plains Media Chief, the organization will likely exercise an option to extend the rights beyond the first four years.The Sioux Falls region includes Rock, Nobles, Pipestone, Murray and Lincoln counties in Minnesota.In Luverne KCPO is broadcast on Channel 9 with Mediacom.The four tournaments scheduled are:
State Girls Hockey Tournament, Feb. 17 – 19.
State Boys Hockey Tournament, March 2 – 5.
State Girls Basketball Tournament, March 9 – 12.
State Boys Basketball Tournament, March 16 – 19.Coverage of the four tournaments will total 44 games.Other high school tournaments the station will be covering include the Minnesota high school football playoffs in November.Winter Carnival set for Jan. 22Roughly 150 local families are preparing to host the 25th annual Luverne Music Boosters Winter Carnival.With a wide variety of games and activities, the Carnival Committee promotes the event each year as the cure for cabin fever.This year the Winter Carnival will be held Saturday, Jan. 22, in the Luverne High School gym. The raffles, cake walks and carnival games will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.Publisher Roger Tollefson can be reached by e-mail at tolly@star-herald.com